Brad Ashford explains why he sat out the sit-in by Dems on gun control

Image: KVNO

The Hill sent emails to the handful of Democrats who didn't join their colleagues:

     Rep. Brad Ashford (Neb.), another Blue Dog, supports both bills, but objected to the Democrats' rule-breaking tactics. 
     "He does not support either Party shutting down Congress on any issue," Ashford's spokesman said Friday in an email.

     One of the rules broken by the Dems who went rogue was the prohibition of the use of cell phones on the House floor. Dems used their cell phones to post streaming video to Facebook and Periscope to break the media blackout Speaker Paul Ryan imposed when he shut off CSPAN cameras. CSPAN telecasted the cell phone video instead.
     Despite Ashford's spokeman's contention that the Dems shut down Congress, the Republicans seem to have got a lot done:

     But you might not have noticed that, while Lewis was leading a civil rights-style protest in this unlikeliest of venues, Republicans passed a bill—one that Lewis has also fought against—to keep the Confederate flag flying on federal property.
     That incredibly inappropriate measure was just one small piece of a big appropriations package passed amid the clamor at 3:10 a.m. on Thursday, with no debate, that features long-awaited funding to combat the Zika virus. Republicans are trying to take advantage of Democratic desperation to secure emergency funding for Zika by pairing it with distasteful policies like the Confederate flag provision. Other pieces punish Planned Parenthood and reward pesticide polluters. Republicans pay for the Zika funding itself by robbing from other public health needs. And they’ve stuffed it all into an appropriations bill for military construction and the Veterans Administration, making it politically difficult to oppose.

(h/t: @Margoandhow)

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